We are learning about what our Muslim neighbours believe, and it is very interesting. One of the startling discoveries is how prominent Jesus is in Islam, and in the Koran (over 150 references, including the virgin birth and the miracles… more mention than Mohammed). At our last session we watched this video clip (Part 1), very…
Author: Norm
believe it or not?
October 18, 2012 SCRIPTURE: Matthew 4:23-25 OBSERVATIONS 1. This must have been a very draining schedule for Jesus, I know how tired I am after one sermon, or when I am working even with just a few people. If Jesus felt the power go out of Him when the woman with the bleeding touched Him, what…
radical, extreme… who me?
October 17, 2012 SCRIPTURE: Matthew 4:18-22 OBSERVATIONS 1. Follow me. Notice He does not say ‘believe in Me’, though faith in Him would be assumed in a decision to follow. Too often we focus on believing, rather than following (hence my blog title, an attempt to change this). To believe should involve following, but often it…
seeing the light (again)
October 16, 2012 SCRIPTURE: Matthew 4:12-17 OBSERVATIONS 1. No explanation is given why Jesus left for Galilee after His cousin John was arrested. Was He fleeing, hiding from the authorities? Was He beginning His mission from the north and working His way down? v.17 suggests that He is beginning His mission. And the quote from Isaiah 9:1-2…
tempting
October 22, 2012 SCRIPTURE: Matthew 4:1-11 OBSERVATIONS 1. Matthew has been presenting Jesus as following the pattern of Israel (going to Egypt). Here again Jesus follows Israel, led into the wilderness, tested in the wilderness, but unlike Israel, refusing to give in to Satan’s schemes. Notice that each quote by Jesus is from Deuteronomy, Moses account…
bigger than the bogey man
October 14, 2012 SCRIPTURE: Psalm 3 OBSERVATIONS 1. I do not have any foes. I cannot imagine what it would be like to be under attack like this. But I do know people who could relate, who feel threatened and assaulted like this. For me my enemies are spiritual, I am constantly under spiritual attack, and…
Genesis 6:9-11:26
October 12-13, 2012 SCRIPTURE: Genesis 6:9-11:26 OBSERVATIONS What do you notice in this passage? APPLICATION What do you sense the Lord saying to you? PRAYER
the foundational message
The following video clearly expresses God’s foundational love for all people. It makes me think of how I love my own children, even if they make foolish or hurtful choices (just as I do). But it also raises the question of God’s wrath, and the seriousness of sin, and the repeated call to repent. So…
I am a much-loved child of God!!!
October 11, 2012 SCRIPTURE: Matthew 3:13-17 OBSERVATIONS 1. Baptism was not a honoured sacrament, it was a humbling step, something that sinful people did to turn their lives around. To go to this wild man in the wilderness was a sign of desperation and messiness, an appeal for the mercy and help of God. This explains…
purge and prune me… really?
October 10, 2012 SCRIPTURE: Matthew 3:7-12 OBSERVATIONS 1. The religious people (Pharisees were the conservatives, Sadducees the liberals) go to John like they go to church, for the performance or for the appearance. They are not there out of deep conviction or desire to change, but to once again show how good (religious) they are. John…